LAS Picnic Saturday, Sept 8

Members and Friends are invited to our Laramie Audubon Society Picnic on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, 4pm - ? at 468 Boulder Ridge Rd., west of Tie Siding.

Come one; come all.  Please RSVP by Sept. 5 to Vicki at 307-760-9518 so we will know how much food to bring. LAS will provide meat, veggie patties and buns and we ask you to bring sides to share and your own beverages. Alcoholic beverages are OK.

Vicki got a grant from the Wyoming Business Council/State Energy Office for a photovoltaic electric system at the cabin.  Come check out the solar electric system, eat some burgers, take a little hike and enjoy the great outdoors (or indoors!). There is no running water or refrigeration so you’ll need to bring your beverages and coolers. There is plenty of room for camping (35 acres) if you choose to stay overnight, especially if you’ve had a little too much to drink.

Directions:
From Laramie, take 287 south to Tie Siding (18 miles). Turn right (west) onto County Road 31/Cherokee Park Rd. It’s dirt from here to the cabin. Go 3 miles and turn right onto County Road 319/Boulder Ridge Rd. Go about 4.5 miles to the driveway (2-track) on the left (Saw Dust Trail is on the right). Go down the driveway, past the unfinished cabin, and to the 2-story cabin. Friendly dogs are welcome, too. Phone reception is spotty but is fairly strong in the cabin so call if you need directions. It takes about 40 minutes to get there from Laramie.

Doug Keinath to Speak on the Exposure of Animals to Development in Wyoming

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department classifies 156 species in Wyoming as “Species of Greatest Conservation Need.” But how do we begin to prioritize which are most in need of  limited conservation and research funds and protective efforts? Sometimes triage is necessary and those most exposed to development are most in need of our help. Doug Keinath, a Ph.D. student at the University of Wyoming and Lead Vertebrate Zoologist for the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database has developed tools to take the guesswork out of this task. By looking at species’ distributions and numbers, the various threats that they face, and the intensity of those threats, Doug has developed models to determine which species are most exposed to development in Wyoming. Is the Wyoming pocket gopher more exposed or the Greater Sage-Grouse? The spotted bat or the swift fox? Come and find out as Laramie Audubon kicks off its fall speakers program on September 26, 2012.